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VC Tuesday: The Terror of Druaga
Many American gamers would consider today's Japanese VC update to have two winners: the isometric RPG Landstalker, and Konami's wonderful SNES shooter Gradius III. Japanese gamers, for whom, of course, this update is intended, would be just as likely to gravitate toward the Famicom version of Namco arcade "classic" The Tower of Druaga, which, uh, they can enjoy with our compliments. We keep getting fooled by Druaga's appearances in Namco Museum collections into thinking that it's really a good game and we're just missing something, but we really don't think we are. It's a brutally hard maze game with unresponsive controls and no point. It's part RPG and part action game and all arrrrrrggghhhh.This week's Japanese Virtual Console releases: The Tower of Druaga (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Gradius III (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Landstalker (Mega Drive, 1 player, 700 Wii Points)
A video reminder of Namco Museum DS
This trailer for Namco Museum DS highlights exactly what Bandai Namco should be highlighting: Pac-Man Vs. After a quick run-through of all the titles on the card, the trailer gets into the business of extolling the new version of Vs.Even gamers who are all Galaga'd out or tired of Druaga can see the interest in a DS version of Toru Iwatani and Shigeru Miyamoto's multiplayer Pac-Man, especially since it makes so much more sense without a home console involved.With only one demo station set up at PAX, we didn't get to play Pac-Man Vs. We hope we get the chance when the game comes out on the 18th.
Namco Museum screens are as new as Namco Museum screens can be
We've seen countless releases of the Namco Museum collections over the years. We remember feeling quite special about the Playstation versions-- they were the real versions of real arcade games! At home! But now the Namco Museum series is, itself, old. How old?Valkyrie no Densetsu (1989) was eight years old when it was released on Namco Museum Vol. 5. The original Namco Museum Playstation game is eleven years old. In other words, Namco Museum is now older, in relative terms, than a game that was old enough for Namco Museum.Speaking of the Playstation editions, the new Namco Museum DS has something not seen since those days: an actual museum mode, in the form of a trophy collection and music player, as well as scanned instructions and flyers. Relatively newer features include bottom-screen maps and hints for Galaga (?), Xevious, and The Tower of Druaga. Of course, the most exciting relatively-new thing is Pac-Man Vs., which, now that it won't require so much of a financial outlay, we may actually try with another person.%Gallery-4650%
DS Daily: Clearance addiction
We recently asked you how you got by in lean times. It's a topic we take to heart, since our countless millions are usually tied up in so many high-risk investments that we can't always get access to enough walking-around money to cover DS games and lobster stuffed with tacos. So we got into the habit of looking for deals.This practice creates an unfortunate compulsion. Sometimes, rather than buying the things we want, we'll buy stuff we normally wouldn't be interested in just because it's so cheap. There have been occasions where, based on a tip from CAG, we've loaded up on clearance games, only to be struck with buyer's remorse. Of course, there were other times when we've been surprised by quality, as was the case with our $2 copy of Nightmare of Druaga. It didn't change the world, but it was fantastic for a $2 game.Have you ever been afflicted by Cheap Game Fever? Ever find yourself getting up early to go to Circuit City for something you don't really care about?
